The God of Destruction
by Mid-Boss2997
Summary: Several millenia ago the wizard Dark Schneider was killed in his battle against heaven and hell. Now he has been reborn as Ranma Saotome and the mythical forces are again on the rise.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or Bastard!

"Dialogue"

((Thoughts))

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Ranma felt very weird as of late, it started about a week after his mother found out about the curses of him and his father. He actually started to notice his fiancées in a very special way. Of course he knew that his fiancées were all very pretty but somehow it didn't matter very much for him. Now this was different and Ranma didn't know what to think of it. Quite frankly, he was horny as hell and didn't know what to do about it. Well, he knew what he could do but that would lead him to get married on the spot.

"Maybe all three girls at once..." he said and then shook his head in denial, ((Where did that thought come from?))

"Did you say something, Ranma?" asked Akane, who was sitting next to him

The pigtailed boy blinked and looked around himself, everyone at the dinner table was looking at him weirdly. He gulped slightly and replied, "Nothing, I was just thinking out loud."

They all looked at him for another second and then returned to eating. Ranma held a relieved sigh back and started to devour his food as well. That was a close brush with death. If Akane had caught what he said, he would have ended as a pulp under her mallet.

Ranma finished his meal faster than normal and excused himself from the table. He went outside and jumped onto the rooftop, where he lay down and stared at the clear sky. The pigtailed boy had to get away from the three Tendo sisters, unless he wanted to go crazy. The sun was just setting, bathing everything in an orangish hue. It calmed his mind down and before long he was drifting into a deep slumber.

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Ranma's dream...

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A young man was sitting in an empty and dark cell. The walls, the ceiling and even the floor were made of metal, which made the room unbelievably cold. He was huddled up in a corner and his wrists were bound together by chains of energy. He was also naked and several tubes were attached to his body. He didn't remember how long he had been in the darkness, only that he was much bigger now than when he first woke up there.

All of a sudden the room was flooded with light, which blinded him instantly and sent a searing pain through his brain. He pressed himself further into the corner, desperately trying to hide himself. He barely noticed that the tubes that were attached to him for all his life were ripped out of his body. And maybe for the first time, he heard another voice than his own,

"He came along nicely, don't you think?"

"Yes, finally we have something that can fight the Anthrax, if she gets out of control." said another elderly male voice

The third man in the room said nothing and after a moment of staring at the white-haired teenage boy in the corner, he turned around and left.

"What's with him?"

"I have no idea, maybe it has something to do with him being human." replied the man, then he looked at their project, "Come here, boy."

The teenager didn't do anything though, just stared at them.

"Tss..." he pulled a remote control out of his robes and pushed a button, suddenly the bonds of the boy gave off an intense energy, which made the boy arch his back in pain. His mouth was opened in a silent scream of agony.

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End of the dream...

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"Airen, wake up! You have bad dream!" said a familiar voice

Ranma sat up with a start, his whole body was covered in a cold sweat and his breathing was ragged. His body was shaking and his eyes were wide and raced from side to side. He was pulled into a hug and heard someone whisper soothing words to him.

It took him almost a full minute to calm back down again and once he did he actually took notice that someone was hugging him. Ranma turned his head slightly to see who it was, he was a little surprised when he saw purple hair.

"Shampoo?"

"You okay now?" asked the girl worriedly

"Yeah, thanks..." replied Ranma and broke out of her hug so that he could look at her

"What is bad dream about? Is Neko-ken training?" said Shampoo, her great-grandmother told her that it could leave very deep scars in the mind of the trainee

"No... It was worse... I think."

Her eyes widened, "Worse?"

He nodded, "I can't remember what it was about though. Umm... what are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

She blushed slightly, "Just wanted to visit..."

"You wanted to sneak into my futon again, didn't you?" asked Ranma with smile, somehow it didn't bother him as much as it did just a few months ago

"... ..."

"Don't worry, I'm not angry."

She blinked in surprise, "You not?"

"Of course not, why should I be?"

"So... Shampoo can sleep with Airen?" she asked hopefully

"Huh? Hell, no! Akane would kill me if she saw us!"

"Oh..."

Seeing the disappointed look on Shampoo's face, Ranma could do nothing but feel guilty, "Well... okay but you have to go before anyone else wakes up."

"Ranma really mean it?"

"Yeah, now come." he motioned her to follow him as he jumped down from the roof. Ranma lead the two of them expertly through the dark house and reached his room, where a big panda was already snoring away. Without saying anything the pigtailed boy undressed until he was only wearing a white undershirt and a pair of boxers.

Shampoo in the meanwhile looked at Ranma's father with a frown, "How Airen sleep near so loud noise?"

"Practice." replied Ranma with a shrug as he rolled his futon out, "I traveled over ten years together with Oyaji, remember?"

"Right... still..."

"You're worried if you can get any sleep?"

The girl nodded agreement, her great-grandmother put her on take-out duty tomorrow and even though she was not very easy to tire out, it was still a pretty hard job.

"Okay then..." he walked over to Genma and kicked him in the side, this caused him to roll over onto his stomach. It silenced the snoring by quite a margin to Shampoo's relief. Ranma went back to his futon and lay down; he then looked at the purple-haired girl with a raised eyebrow, "You coming?"

"One moment..." said Shampoo and took of her clothes, revealing that she didn't have any kinds of underwear. There was not even the slightest hint of shame on her face.

"Uhm... Shampoo?"

"What?" she started walking over to him

"Are you sure, you want to sleep like this?" asked Ranma nervously, ((What the hell is wrong with me? If anyone catches me with a naked Shampoo in the middle of the night, I'm going to get killed! Well... only mom would be pretty happy about it, I guess.))

The young Amazon looked down at herself in puzzlement, "What wrong? Shampoo always sleep like that."

"It's just..." he looked at her again and gave up, she wouldn't understand it anyway, "Nothing, hop in."

Shampoo did just that and was soon cuddled up against him under the covers, she had a content smile on her lips and her eyes were closed. She really had no other intentions than to actually sleep here. The girl treated Ranma as if he was a giant teddy bear.

The before mentioned boy on the other hand was wide awake and stared at the ceiling. He tried not to think about his Chinese fiancée, who was pressed up against him, ((Cologne, Happosai, Cologne, Happosai, Cologne, Happosai... Cologne and Happosai going naked through the Kama Sutra...))

Ranma shuddered violently at the last thought and made an effort to keep his gagging reflex down. That had been a tad bit on the disturbing side, almost traumatic to tell the truth. He closed his eyes and after almost an hour of distracting himself from Shampoo, he finally knocked himself out with a punch to the head.

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The next morning...

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Ranma woke up to the sound of a splash and a loud growl. The martial artist sat up and looked to the side, to see a rather surprised looking Akane standing in the doorway and a confused, wet panda. He on the other hand was completely dry and somehow switched places with his father, as weird as it was.

"Heh... thanks Shampoo." whispered Ranma and then waved at Akane cheerfully, "Good morning, Akane! Should have known that you throw the water without even looking who's there."

He stood up, took a fresh set of clothes and walked past the two stunned people before they even had a chance to react. Ranma then went to the bathroom; he put his fresh clothes to the side and took off his underwear. He sat down on a small stool and splashed himself with cold water, which turned him promptly into his cursed form. Ranma scrubbed herself off with a lathered up towel and then splashed herself again to wash the soap away.

The red-head then entered the furo and let out a relaxed sigh as the she turned back into her male form. He sat down into the hot water and leaned his head back, enjoying the warmth.

((Man... that feels good... I really shouldn't have hit myself so hard but Shampoo is really... Now that I think about it, why was she there anyway? The last time she did that was months ago...)) contemplated Ranma and then sank a little deeper into the water, ((Maybe because of that damn ghost c-c-cat that abducted her.))

Ranma stayed in the water for almost half an hour, he was already feeling a little dizzy from all the heat. He slowly stood up, careful not to make any sudden moves. Once he left the furo, he took one of the large towels that Kasumi prepared every morning and dried himself off.

The cursed boy then proceeded to get dressed, only to blink in confusion after he was finished, "Where the hell do these clothes come from?"

He was wearing a white T-shirt with torn off sleeves, a pair of black jeans and a black leather belt with a buckle that had the initials D.S. engraved on it, "Maybe mom bought them? I'll ask her later..."

Ranma walked out of the bathroom and lazily made his way to the living room where Nabiki was sitting on the couch. It was Saturday so they didn't have to worry about school, "Morning, Nabiki. What are you watching?"

She didn't look away from the TV, "Slayers NEXT."

"What is it about?"

This time she did look at Ranma, he never showed any interest for watching anime or television overall. Nabiki was even more surprised when she saw the clothes he was wearing; they were unlike anything he ever wore before. They looked completely normal and she had to admit, they suited him pretty well.

"Hello, Nabiki?" interrupted Ranma "I asked you something."

"Just watch it, it's the first episode. You'll get into it." said Nabiki as she concentrated on the show, "Just to warn you, Slayers is not about martial arts but magic."

He shrugged and plopped down next to her, "Doesn't matter."

Almost an hour later, Slayers had a new fan. They showed two episodes and Ranma found himself entranced by the medieval world full of magic and monsters. It was all very familiar to him, which he found a little weird. Nabiki ignored him mostly and even went back to her room after the first episode; she watched the show before and only wanted to pass some time.

He turned the TV off and was about to leave the room, when Kasumi walked inside. Once she saw him a smile appeared on her face, "There you are, Ranma! I've been searching for you."

"Huh? What is it?"

"Father called for you. I think he wants to show you something in his room."

"Really? I hope its important." mumbled Ranma as he strolled past the girl, "Thanks for telling me, by the way."

"No need to thank me."

Ranma soon reached Soun's room and opened the sliding door. What he saw there made him stop in his tracks, Akane was kneeling on the ground and she was wearing a traditional wedding kimono, her eyes were closed and she had a peaceful look on her face. Soun and Nodoka and Genma were sitting next to her.

"Say Ranma, how do you like her?" exclaimed Soun; tears were running down his face

"Akane is such a beautiful little bride, the only thing that missing now to make her happy is you." said Ranma's mother cheerfully

"Err... wha...?" muttered Ranma perplexed

Now he was assaulted by all the adults, first was Mr. Tendo, "Ranma, you found your mother again, what luck!"

Then his father, "To heaven on earth only marriage is missing now!"

"B-but... this is all happening so fast... you can't just..."

"Don't you want her, Ranma?" added Nodoka, she sounded worried

(('Want' her? In certain way, yes... Marry her... hell, no!)) thought Ranma, "Don't you think this is all a little bit rushed?"

That was when Akane opened her eyes, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!"

"Shit! She woke up!" said Genma

"I thought we knocked her out." muttered Soun with a frown

"What is this about?" growled Akane angrily as she looked down at herself, "To dress me like some kind of doll...?"

Ranma interrupted her, "But it looks good on you, Akane."

"What?" said the girl, she stared at him flatly

"A kimono looks always good on fat women." explained Ranma matter-of-factly

"If you say it, it must be true..." stated Akane and then punted him through the roof with a vicious uppercut, "What else should someone expect from you!"

Ranma flew almost across half the town before he landed head first on a roof, "Man... she's really in a bad mood..."

That was when he noticed a gigantic swarm of crows; there must have been over a hundred of these birds. He stood up from his upside down position to get a better look and gasped when he saw that the crows were chasing a small girl, who must have been only seven or eight years old.

"Aiyah! This is end of dishonorable life!" shouted the running girl, as she covered her head with her arms.

Without thinking Ranma jumped from the roof and picked the girl up, along with some gravel from a nearby construction zone. He stopped and turned around, throwing the small stones skillfully at the heads of the feathered animals, holding them off for the moment.

"Raha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haa!"

"What!" Ranma looked up to see where that laugh came from and saw something he didn't expect, a dark-skinned teenage boy with black wings and bird-like talons instead of hands and feet.

"Give us the girl!" shouted the half-bird

"Like I'm that stupid!" yelled Ranma back and pushed the child behind him protectively. Just in time he heard a strange sound coming from behind him, he took the girl in his arms again and jumped out of the way of a hail of sharp-looking feathers that stuck the sidewalk instead of him.

"Ki hi hi hi hi hi hi!"

"Damn, another one! Fight fair, you cowards!" growled Ranma at the winged boy with the tiger-striped feathers

Ranma ran down the street, trying to escape the two flying boys. The girl was clinging to him like her life depended on it, it probably did anyway. He rounded the next corner and saw to his relieve someone who could help him.

"Ryoga!"

"Oh? Ranma?" mumbled Ryoga surprised as turned his head away from the clouded sky

"Catch!" shouted Ranma and threw the girl at his rival

"Aiyah!" cried the child as she landed in the other boy's arms

"Huh?" said Ryoga as he held the girl, his eyes widened when Ranma was abruptly pulled up into the air by a black-winged thing

The pigtailed boy tried desperately to free himself from the hold the bird-boy had on him but could do nothing as he was slowly strangled by a talon. Just then his curse as a water magnet kicked in and everyone was drenched by a heavy downpour.

"Argh!" yelled Ranma as she came crashing down onto the street, she held her throat and coughed several times as she finally could breath again, ((Why am I free?))

The red-haired girl looked around and what she saw shocked her, the two boys from before lost all of their bird traits and appeared to be normal humans now, "...?"

"Damn it..." cursed the dark-skinned boy as he stood up from the ground

"If it hadn't started to rain, we would have won!" added the other one

"They turned into humans when the cold water hit them..." muttered Ranma

"The fight's not finished yet, you stupid transvestite!" exclaimed the two boys at the same time

((Transvestite...?)) Ranma narrowed her eyes and gave her two opponents a throughout beating, she was soon joined by the small girl, who had a little black pig on her shoulder. It didn't take long before both boys were unconscious, ((...Seems that they're wimps without their bird bodies...))

After the child was finished with beating her pursuers, she took P-chan into her arms and turned towards Ranma, who gave the knocked out pair one last kick, "Honored Customer! You save me from great danger!"

Ranma looked at her dumbly, "Did you just say customer?"

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Later that day, Nekohanten...

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It was already night when Ranma, P-chan and the girl reached the Cat Café. It took them so long thanks to the pig getting lost several times on their trip. And since the child said that everyone who was cursed by Jusenkyo should hear what she had to say, Ranma had to go search for him.

Now all of them were sitting in the restaurant, along with Shampoo and Mousse. The girl was eating ramen and Ranma and Ryoga had their normal forms again.

"What?" was shouted by all of the teenagers, "The daughter of the Jusenkyo Guide?"

"Name is Plum." explained the girl further, "News I bring is not very nice, Honored Customers."

"Never thought that he would have a daughter..." said Ranma, completely ignoring Plum

"That would mean that he is married... what things there are on the world..." muttered Ryoga disbelievingly

"She has luck... not look like him." stated Shampoo

"And what if it's a demon that took the form of a small girl?" questioned Mousse suspiciously

"These people not very nice." said Plum dryly

"Son-in-Law, you said that these two creatures that pursued you turned to humans through the cold water?"

"Do you know more about them?" asked Ranma seriously

She narrowed her eyes, "It could be that these two are inhabitants of the legendary Mount Phoenix."

"Inhabitants of Mt. Phoenix?" repeated Ranma, "People that look like birds?"

"Is true." confirmed Plum, "I bring ancient map, very important secret of Jusenkyo. Phoenix tribe want it."

"Why don't you just give it to them?" asked the pigtailed martial artist

"If they get map, all springs of Jusenkyo will dry up. Is very tragic!"

"WHAT?" screamed all of the cursed teenagers

"Cologne, tell us more about these bird guys!" said Ranma rather forcefully

"Very well, Son-in-Law. In the Chinese province Quinghai lies the Bayankala mountain range... South of Mount Kensei that rules over the Jusenkyo springs is Mount Phoenix. And it is told that on the mountain is another cursed spring."

"Another cursed spring...?" questioned Ranma

"The legend says that the spring is on the unreachable top of the mountain, which is why only birds could drink out of it. The inhabitants of Mount Phoenix used the water for generations and with time they started to grow wings and other bird-like traits."

"You mean that they normally look like monsters?" asked the son of Nodoka thoughtfully, "Say Plum, why do they want to dry out Jusenkyo?"

"No time to ask them." replied the girl

"Hmmm..." muttered Ryoga as he started to walk through the room, he held his umbrella

"Ryoga?"

"Bird-people or not, we have to get rid of them to save the springs." said the bandanna-clad boy coldly and then suddenly threw his umbrella into a dividing wall, "Hah! I saw you!"

"What! They're here!" exclaimed Mousse, as he and Ranma jumped up from the table

"We're here, idiot!" came from the front door as it was opened

"You know... your sense of direction is getting worse. We're not even outside." said Ranma as he pointed at the Phoenix people.

At least Ryoga had the dignity to blush before he turned around to look at their new guests. There were three of them, the two boys from before and a tall silver-haired woman, who had an icy look on her face. The two males were in human form.

"I am Kima from Mount Phoenix."

"Korma." said the black-haired boy

"Masala." said the other one

"Thanks that you led us here, you can go now." said Kima to a pair of owls on the outside

"So, you came here on your own." said Ryoga as he cracked his knuckles

"That'll make things easier." added Ranma with a smile

"Ku, ku... I almost think that you won't give us the map of Jusenkyo freely..."

"Exactly!" confirmed Ranma, his smile turned into a smirk, "But if you search for the shortest way to the hospital, I think we can help you!"

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To be continued...

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	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or Bastard!

"Dialogue"

((Thoughts))

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"Exactly!" confirmed Ranma, his smile turned into a smirk, "But if you search for the shortest way to the hospital, I think we can help you!"

"Ku, ku, ku... Don't overestimate yourself, boy." said Kima and unfolded her wings

She then brought her wings down forcefully, hurling several of her feathers at the three martial artists. Ranma and his rivals barely avoided them so that only their clothing got slightly cut up. The pigtailed boy's eyes widened when he saw that one of the projectiles was coming at Plum who was running away with the Jusenkyo map.

He quickly jumped forward, leaving a cracked floorboard in the process. Ranma pushed the child to the ground, just in time as the feather flew past their heads. They were shocked though when the map was ripped to pieces by the razor-sharp feather.

"Korma! Masala! Get the parts of the map!"

The two Phoenix boys instantly jumped forward at Kima's command and reached for the pieces.

"You won't get the map!" shouted Ryoga as he caught several of papers that were flying through the air

"Quick, get the scraps!" said Mousse, as he reached for them

"Next attack." exclaimed Kima as she raised her wings again

She was surprised when Ranma jumped towards her with two frying pans in his hands, "Your damn feathers won't help you anymore!"

"Don't talk nonsense, boy!" shouted the woman and started her next assault

Ranma's eyes widened in shock when the iron pans he was holding were cut apart, they looked like crescent moons now. As the martial artist looked at the destroyed cooking instruments, he got an idea. He threw them with full force at the woman's wings, pinning her to the wall.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Masala, he already held some map parts in his hand

"Lady Kima! And that with all her battle experience!" added Korma, who had the other pieces

They were promptly hit on the head by Kima with the frying pans that Ranma used to capture her, "Are you saying that I'm old?"

They wisely shut up.

She then glared at Ranma and said with an icy tone, "For hurting my wings, I will cut you to pieces one day. Masala, Korma we're leaving!"

"Of course, my lady!" replied her subordinates and followed her outside

"Hey, wait up!" yelled the four teenagers and were about to follow

Before they could do anything though, Kima came back in and splashed them with a bucket full of cold water. Then she flew off, while holding Korma and Masala by their hands.

"Aaah! A cat! Get it away!" screamed the now female Ranma, who had a pink cat on her head. In the process of running around, she trampled over a small black pig and a duck with glasses.

"Hmmm..."said Cologne, as she looked after the escaping people of the Phoenix tribe

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A little bit later...

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"They didn't get the map!" exclaimed Ranma surprised, they were all back to their normal form thanks to Cologne

"They only got menu of restaurant." said Plum, "I accidentally take it instead of map. Map still in little pieces though, as table was cut apart."

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A nearby factory chimney...

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"You idiots! That's just a menu!" shouted Kima and kicked her servants off the chimney; unfortunately they were still in human form, which made the landing really painful.

"Ouch..." muttered Korma before he and his friend fainted

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The next day at the Tendo dojo...

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"Hey, why are you packing your things?" asked Akane as she walked into her fiancé's room

Ranma, who was in the process of putting one of his shirts into his backpack was about to answer but was interrupted by Shampoo. She came early this morning to see if Ranma was alright, "Airen is moving in with Shampoo in the Nekohanten."

"Don't worry, it's only until our problem is solved." added Ranma

Akane's imagination ran wild at this sentence and she promptly punched Ranma, "And what kind of problem did you put Shampoo in!"

"It's not what you're thinking about!" replied Ranma forcefully, ((Damn, she's sure perverted...))

"Is problem only for ones cursed by Jusenkyo." said Shampoo, "Is not concern of Akane."

"Jusenkyo?"

"Exactly Akane, that's why I have to go now."

Genma, who heard all this, held up a sign since he was in his panda at the moment, "Ranma... be careful!"

Ranma stared at him flatly, "You're coming with us. This is concerning you as much as it does us, you old fool."

"Aiyah! Panda man is coming with us?" questioned Shampoo surprised, "Have to go now, Airen. Must finish preparations!"

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Later at the Cat Café...

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"We may not know why the Phoenix tribe wants to dry out Jusenkyo but the secret that the map is hiding is most probably the origin of the springs." said Cologne, she and the others were sitting in a circle in her room and in the middle of it the map was lying.

"You make good guess." stated Plum

"If these guys get their hands on the map, they'll destroy everything." exclaimed Ranma seriously and took one of the parts of the map, "Each of us should take one of them. One piece for Ryoga, one for Oyaji, then Mousse and... ...? Hey, where is Shampoo!"

"The last time I saw her was when she went to visit you, Son-in-Law." said Cologne worriedly

"Yeah, Shampoo was at the dojo but she left again. She wanted to go back home."

"Maybe Phoenix people capture her?" questioned Plum

"We should go search for her!" said Mousse and stood up

"Yes, who knows what could have happened." added Ryoga, standing up as well. He was promptly pulled back down by Cologne though.

"You stay here. With your sense of direction you are just going to be a hassle."

Ranma nodded, "Let's all split up and start searching."

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The streets of Nerima...

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"Shampoo!" shouted Ranma as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, he was searching for over an hour now, ((Damn, where is she? If these bird bastards did something to her, I'm going to kill...))

He stopped in his tracks before he could finish his thought, ((Did I just really think that? What the hell is wrong with me, I'm a martial artist... I shouldn't be thinking about killing others... but Kima reminds me someone... I just don't who, only that I don't like her...))

Ranma changed directions and was on the way to the park, the only place where he didn't search already. He tried to forget his earlier thoughts and concentrated on the task at hand. It took him fifteen minutes to reach the park but he was sorely disappointed, it was completely empty and only a few streetlights were illuminating the area.

"Shampoo! Are you here?"

"Aiyah, Ranma!"

Ranma blinked and turned around; the purple-haired was waving and running towards him. He walked to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, "Shampoo! Where have you been?"

"You... were worried about Shampoo?" asked the girl surprised

"Of course I was!" replied Ranma, "To disappear in such a dangerous situation... I already thought something happened to you!"

The pigtailed boy found himself now on the receiving end of a trademarked Amazon glomp, "Shampoo is very happy!"

"Hey, I didn't mean it quite like that..." muttered Ranma as he was pressed against a tree

"Don't worry, Airen! You have to relax..."

"We... have to go back to the restaurant or..." replied the martial artist as Shampoo's face inched closer to his own, ((Oh damn... I just know that something is going to happen now...))

All of a sudden something hit the two cursed teenagers from behind, "So only for the ones with Jusenkyo curses, wasn't it!"

It was Akane and she wasn't very happy. As Ranma and Shampoo flew through the air, the boy was shocked when he saw something fall out of Amazon's shirt, "Huh? The map of Jusenkyo! Shampoo, where did you...?"

"Careful, honored Ranma!" exclaimed Plum as she walked out of a nearby bush, "She already disable the others!"

"How long were you watching that scene?" asked Akane

"Must observe closely, situation very, very dangerous!"

"Tss... Shampoo has to admit that she got a little distracted, almost forget Mistress Kima's mission..." said the purple-haired Amazon

"Mistress... Kima!" shouted the stunned Ranma

He was even more shocked when Shampoo jumped backwards and into a fountain, activating her curse.

"Argh! A cat, a cat!" screamed the boy as he sprinted away from the feline, he didn't look where he ran to though and crashed at full speed into a nearby tree, knocking himself out for the moment.

Shampoo used this opportunity and stole all the map parts back from her fiancé. After taking all of them carefully into her maw, she strolled away and jumped into the arms of the waiting Kima, who just appeared a few moments ago with her two lackeys.

In the meanwhile Ryoga, Mousse and Cologne arrived at the scene, witnessing what happened. Ranma got back on his feet and glared at the bird people, he was still a little hurt though.

"Kima!" shouted Ryoga angrily

"What did you do with Shampoo!" yelled Mousse

She only grinned devilishly, "Finally we have the map of Jusenkyo, nothing can stop us now!"

"We can't let them get away!" exclaimed Ranma and ran towards them

He was followed by Mousse, "Give Shampoo back!"

Before they could reach their opponents though, Masala and Korma splashed themselves with warm water from two kettles they brought along. Turning back to their normal forms they quickly flew out of the way of Ranma's and Mousse's attack.

"Now back to Mount Phoenix! Hurry!" said Kima and soared away together with Neko-Shampoo and her two servants

"Aiyah! Is end of Jusenkyo!" cried Plum

"Damn them..." muttered Ranma

"Shampoo!" screamed Mousse desperately

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The next day at the Tendo dojo... again... (What do you expect, Ranma lives there)

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Ranma was again sitting in his room, packing his backpack for a more extensive trip this time. He was lost in thought, as he contemplated what happened the other day.

"I'm sorry, Akane... But I can't take you along on such a dangerous journey... Maybe I should take a photo of you with me that I could use as a good luck charm!"

"What do you want?" asked Ranma flatly as he looked at the middle Tendo daughter, who was holding a photo of her younger sister and a small microphone.

"As a farewell present I'll sell it to you for a low price." said the girl, while holding the picture out to him

"Keep it, I don't want it."

"What does it cost!" asked Ryoga, who appeared suddenly

"500 yen." replied Nabiki a little out of it at the sudden appearance of Ranma's rival

The Eternally Lost Boy quickly shoved the money into Nabiki's hand and took the photo. He pulled his wallet out of his pants and put the picture inside of it.

"Hey look, he's putting it right next to the photo of his girl-friend." said the brown-haired girl

"Then why did you sell it to him?" replied Ranma dryly

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Later at the harbor...

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"Wind is good." said Plum as she sat on the roof of a small ship. Thanks to Nabiki they could afford to rent one.

"We're going now!" exclaimed Ranma; he was still standing on the footbridge, while his companions were already on the boat.

"Hmm... I already thought that we had to swim to China but..." muttered Mousse

"Yeah... we really had luck that we got this ship." said Ryoga

"Water very cold, you know. Be careful." stated the daughter of the Jusenkyo Guide

"Seems that everything is prepared..." said Soun, he had tears in his eyes

"Take care of yourself, Ranma!" said Nodoka, she too was teary eyed

"Bring me a necklace made of jade when you come back!" said Nabiki

"Yeah, yeah..." mumbled Ranma irritably

"Hey... where is Akane?" questioned Soun all of a sudden

Kasumi nodded, "Father's right... where did she go?"

"Akane... I haven't seen her for hours..." responded Nodoka

"Wait for a moment, Ranma. I'll go search for her." said Mr. Tendo

"I bet you want to say goodbye to her properly." stated Ranma's mother

"Feh... leave her be. I won't be gone for long anyway." replied the pigtailed martial artist

"Ranma! Are you coming or not!" shouted Mousse

"I'm coming, I'm coming..." answered Ranma and jumped on board, "Bye, all of you."

Ranma started the two motors of the boat and off they were. It didn't take long till the small ship was out of sight of the ones at the harbor. The cursed martial artist walked over to Mousse, who was still sitting on the small roof,

"How long do you think it will take us?"

"Four or five days at least, we may have to avoid patrols of the Chinese government." replied the almost blind boy seriously, "We won't be able to catch up to the Phoenix people. They have too much of a head start."

"I guessed as much... but I don't think we have to worry about any patrols." replied Ranma

"What do you mean? They will stop us, if they catch sight of this boat."

Ranma shrugged, "We just have to destroy their ships."

"What?" asked Mousse with a raised eyebrow

"My Moko Takabisha and Ryoga's Shi Shi Hokodan should be enough to take care of them. The coast guard or whoever they are won't be able to follow us, if they have nothing that can carry them." explained Ranma coldly

"B-but it's almost winter... they would freeze to death in the water."

"Their problem, not mine." replied Ranma and walked away

Mousse gulped loudly as he looked after his rival's retreating form, that didn't sound like Ranma. Not at all.

"Since when were Ranma's pupils slitted?"

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To be continued...

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	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or Bastard!!

"Dialogue"

((Thoughts))

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Ranma was bored, completely and utterly bored. It was their third day on sea and there was nothing they to do to relieve their boredom. The ship was too small and too frail to spar on, the scenery was always the same and everything smelled like wet panda thanks to Genma.

The only distraction the people on board had, was an old cassette player and several tapes full of American Rock and Heavy Metal music. Moreover, for the life of him Ranma could not figure out why he recognized the names of some of these bands.

There was also the small problem that the other occupants of the ship tended to avoid him lately, which made starting conversations quite hard. When he asked them what was wrong, they only answered that his eyes looked strange.

Since there weren't any mirrors on the ship, Ranma had to take that at face value. He tried to look at his reflection in the ocean but it was not clear enough for him to see details.

((Damn... what is wrong with my eyes? I don't see things any different than normal...)) thought Ranma darkly, he was lying on the small roof of the cabin and looked at the stars, ((That's not important now anyway... We have to stop the Phoenix tribe before they can destroy Jusenkyo... and we have to get Shampoo back...))

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The seventh day of their journey

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They were in China now and pretty much on their way to Jusenkyo. It also seemed that the closer they got to the cursed springs, the more cold water they attracted. Because of that all of them, with the exception of Plum, who didn't have a curse, were transformed.

That also had one advantage; thanks to Ranma's cute girl form, they got a bike and a small cart in a nearby village. The problem with this was that the pigtailed girl was the only one able to use the bike, which meant that she had to pull all the luggage in the cart, the panda, a duck and a small black pig that was sitting on her head. Plum was in the basket attached to the handlebar and gave directions.

"How far is it to Mount Phoenix, Plum...?" asked Ranma, she was slightly out of breath

"Not far. We must only cross next seven mountains!" replied the small girl, while pointing ahead of her

((Seven mountains?! If they expect me to pull all their stuff up and down several mountains, they're going to hear a piece of my mind!!))

That was when P-chan started hitting her on the head, "Ouch! What is it, Ryoga?!"

The pig pointed to their right and Ranma's eyes widened with happiness, "Oh! A hot spring!"

As the rest of the cursed ones heard this, they scrambled of after Ranma, who abandoned the bike and ran to the small resort. She already started undressing as she ran, "Finally going to be a man again!!"

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A little while later...

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"Ahhhhh... that feels good...!" exclaimed the four males as they sank into the water of the spring

"That's right! There's nothing better than hot water if you want to relax." said Genma as he rubbed his neck

"Hmm... yes. However... I think some of the people here are a little too relaxed." replied Ranma, while looking at several unconscious men that were floating on the water a few meters away from them. The pigtailed boy narrowed his eyes, "Something's coming closer..."

"Hmm... I can't see what it is..." said Mousse as he put his glasses on

Ryoga was cracking his knuckles, "Well, at least we can warm up a little before we reach Mount Phoenix. Are you guys ready?"

They watched as a large shadow was coming nearer towards them from under the water. The three teenagers positioned themselves near a large rock in the spring, so that they couldn't be attacked from behind.

((Just a little closer...)) went through all of their minds, when suddenly something shot out of the water and smashed through the rock they were hiding behind. Ranma jumped out of the spring, catching one of the larger stones that were hurled around and threw it at the monster's shadow. It arched up and out of the water, it was easily three or four meters long.

"There it is!!" shouted Mousse

"It's gigantic!!" exclaimed Ryoga

It came down onto the water again with a loud splash and stayed there, floating on the surface.

"Hmm...?! A giant lobster?" mumbled Ranma dumbly and walked closer towards the big, red thing. He poked it slightly and looked a little embarrassed, "But... it's just..."

Mousse pulled a needle out of nowhere and pierced the lobster, instantly air started to escape from the thing and it grew smaller.

"... A toy..." finished Ranma flatly

All of a sudden, Ranma heard a sound coming from behind him; he turned around just in time to catch an ornate metal ring that was flying towards him at an astonishing speed. The cursed boy gritted his teeth as the force behind the object pushed him of his feet and smashed him against a large rock, shattering it completely.

The ring slipped out of his grasp and continued on its destructive way, splitting a nearby tree in half. The projectile then suddenly stopped in the air and slowly flew back down; attaching itself to a staff that someone was holding who was obscured due to the steam rising from the water.

"Who's there?!" shouted Ryoga

"Fu fu fu fu fu fu...! Who do you think you are, scum? For the crime of entering this hot spring unallowed, there is only one punishment... DEATH!!!"

A boy who seemed to be only seven years old said this, he had black hair with orangish-red streaks that lined his face and he was wearing very fine looking clothes along with a cape that was fluttering in the wind. He had crimson eyes and in his hand he was holding the staff with the ring.

"Huh...?" muttered Mousse dumbly

"A boy... you have got to be kidding?" said Ryoga

The child did not take their reaction pretty well though, he swung his staff and the ring was sent flying again, "Zanshu!"

Ryoga didn't take this very lightly though, he picked up the rather huge rock on which Ranma was at the moment and threw it at the boy, "Everything that happened at this spring is your fault, isn't it?!"

The small boy's weapon promptly destroyed the boulder, "Young fools! You don't know the power of my Kinjakan!!"

Unfortunately for him though, one of larger pieces of the destroyed stone landed on his head, knocking him out cold.

"Don't pop an artery, shrimp." said Ranma, who was on top of that stone

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Some time later...

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Ranma and the others were dressed again and stood outside of the hot spring resort, along with Plum and his father, who fled earlier.

"So... the demon of the spring was just a small brat?!" muttered Ranma, he was holding the Kinjakan

"Brat make great mess in all hot springs in area." explained Plum

"Kill me!! I'd rather die than being humiliated like that!!" growled the small boy, he was sitting on the ground and was tied up with a rope.

"Come on now, you're exaggerating a little." said Ranma, "If you apologize, we won't hit you anymore."

"I worry about Shampoo..." mumbled Mousse sadly

"It takes at least two days till we reach Mt. Phoenix..." stated Plum

The boy blinked, "Hey... you're going to Mount Phoenix?"

"Yeah, why?" asked Ranma, he already turned to leave

"Leave him be, Ranma. We don't have the time to play around with this brat." said Ryoga angrily

"If you use my Kinjakan, you could reach Mount Phoenix tonight."

The three teenagers suddenly surrounded him and all of them had friendly looks on their faces.

"Is that really true, little one?" asked Ranma as he freed the boy

"He does look very nice." stated Mousse

"Put your glasses on you blind dolt! I'm Ryoga!" muttered the bandanna-clad boy as Mousse patted him on the head

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A few hours later...

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Ranma and his companions were actually enjoying the trip now. They were sitting on their cart and bike, while the boy pulled them as he was riding his Kinjakan. The staff was almost reaching speeds of 120 miles per hour.

"There!! Look, Mount Phoenix up ahead!" exclaimed Plum and pointed at a very high and dangerous looking mountain

"Wow..." whispered Ranma astonished

It didn't take them very long to reach the mountain now and soon arrived at its base. Once there, they looked at Mt. Phoenix in awe, it was much larger now that they were standing right in front of it.

"We don't have to climb up there?" questioned Ryoga with a small gulp; the mountain walls were very steep

"Of course not, you idiot." muttered the small boy, "The main entrance is just few meters away from here. I'll lead you there."

Ryoga was about to strangle the child but was held back by Mousse and Ranma, "Let me at him!!"

The boy ignored him and started walking, motioning them to follow him. True to his words, he led them to the entrance, which was a large gateway with a stairway leading into Phoenix Mountain.

"Here it is." said the boy as he looked up at Ranma

"Thanks for your help. That saved us a lot of time." replied the pigtailed boy sincerely and started walking up the stairs to follow his friends, who were already climbing them. He waved at their guide one last time, "Be careful on your way home! I hope you don't get lost. Bye and thanks again!"

"..." the boy smashed his staff onto the ground once

Ranma just caught up with his Ryoga and the other when they all heard a deep noise rumble that went through the ancient staircase. All of a sudden, the ground under them broke away, revealing a gaping hole that was shrouded in darkness.

The owner of the Kinjakan walked up to the brink of the newly created abyss, a cruel look was marring his face, "Fu fu fu... That is the punishment for humiliating me! You're going to stay down there until you're going mad from hunger!"

Suddenly a chain shot up from the dark pit and wrapped itself tightly around the boy's staff, "Wha...? How did you...?!"

"Tsss... I already thought that it was too good to be true!" shouted Ranma, who was holding the other end of the chain along with the others

"Argh...! Let go!"

"Just wait until we're up there! You're going to get the beating of your life!" growled the son of Nodoka and started to climb up

There was one thing that Ranma didn't think about though when he did that. Three male teenagers with backpacks, a small girl and a big panda were much, much heavier than a seven-year old boy with a staff. The child's feet were pulled of the ground and he was tumbling now along with the others into the hole. All of a sudden, they heard a woman shout, the voice sounded very familiar to them.

"Kima!!!" screamed the boy happily

The shorthaired woman flew towards them at a very high speed and grasped the boy around the waist. Her eyes widened when she realized who was hanging at the Kinjakan too.

"What are you doing here, you...?!"

"Kima?!" exclaimed Ranma in surprise

"Korma, Masala... Hit them and let them fall into the abyss!!" ordered Kima her two subordinates

"Of course, lady Kima!" said the two young men

The two made a nosedive towards Ranma and hit the staff he was clutching with enough force to rip it out of the hands of the boy their commander was holding. The members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew could do nothing but scream at they fell down the deep hole.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!! They're falling heads forward into hell!" said Korma happily

He and his friends were promptly hit over the head by the boy they saved, "You bumbling fools!!"

"Huh?" they muttered dumbly

"You let them have my Kinjakan!! What do you have in your heads? Yoghurt?!" screamed the boy angrily

That was the last thing Ranma and the others heard before they reached the bottom of the pit. Unexpectedly, Ryoga started using the 'Bakusai Tenketsu' on the ground.

"Let's build a tunnel!!" exclaimed the Eternally Lost Boy

"And why should that help us, you idiot?!" screamed Ranma

"Honored Customer, mountain of Phoenix is up there!" stated Plum

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An hour later...

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Korma and Masala were searching through the newly created tunnel system under Mount Phoenix. They were sent here after they found out that the boy that hit them was actually their master Saffron.

"Where are they...?" muttered the black-haired boy

"And where do these tunnels come from? I've never seen them before." said Masala

All of a sudden, the stonewall that was behind them exploded and buried them under the rubble. Out of the new hole walked Ryoga, who was accompanied by his friends.

"Say... weren't we here already?" asked Mousse

"Why are there caves everywhere?" questioned Ryoga dumbly, this earned him a punch from Ranma

"Because you dug them, idiot!" said Ranma angrily

"Go down from us, it hurts!!!" screamed someone

"Huh?" Ranma looked down at the ground and his eyes widened in surprise, he saw two very familiar persons. Out of shock, all the Jusenkyo cursed people jumped away from the rubble.

"Now you're not getting away anymore!!" shouted Korma as he and Masala burst free from the stone

Masala flapped his wings once and a hail of sharp feathers was thrown at the pigtailed boy and the others, "Give back the Kinjakan or I'm going to throw all of my feathers at you!!"

"Wargh...!" screamed the martial artists as they avoided another salve

"You idiots! Don't you know how dangerous this is in such a narrow space?!" exclaimed Ranma as he whirled around. Accidentally he swung the Kinjakan and unexpectedly the ring on top of it flew at the winged boys.

They ducked away but the metal disk started ricocheting off the walls, so fast that it was smashing them to pieces. In the process, Korma and Masala were buried again. Unfortunately though the ring came towards Ranma and the others now and it wasn't moving any slower.

Without thinking, they ran away, trying to avoid the ring as best as they could, when Ryoga stumbled over a small rock. He fell forward and the projectile sliced his backpack in half.

"My wallet!!" screamed Ryoga as he jumped for it. He caught his wallet with Akari's and Akane's pictures inside of it, when he noticed a little detail. There was no ground under him and he was in the process of falling into a very deep and dark hole.

He had luck that Ranma got a hold of the other side of the wallet that was also in Ryoga's hands, "Ryoga! Don't let go!"

"You don't have to tell me that!!"

Just then, the ring of the Kinjakan came back to the staff and attached itself again. The only problem was that the ring was almost as fast as a bullet as it did that. Ranma was thrown backwards and the wallet was ripped in half. This caused Ryoga to fall again.

"Damn..." muttered Ranma and then blinked when he heard a sound he didn't like at all.

The tunnel the pigtailed boy was in collapsed, and buried him under several tons of stone.

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Ranma's dream...

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He saw a cute, red-haired girl kneeling in front of him. She was more than a head shorter than him and looked pretty surprised and had a blush on her face. He remembered that her name was Yoko.

"Which ancient and evil wizard are you now?" asked the girl

_Flash..._

"What did you do with Yoko?!" he shouted angrily

"I'll tell you what I did! I tied her up and let the slime play with her!" exclaimed a large black-haired man, who was holding a katana

"What slime?!"

"And once she was naked I licked her whole body off!"

"Licked... off...?" his left eye started twitching

"That wasn't everything! I put my XXX in her XXX and then I XXXed her! I forced her to XXX!!"

"You..."

"I deflowered her!! Ha, ha, ha, ha!!" shouted the man proudly and stuck a heroic pose, "And it was fun!!"

"..." he was speechless, then after a moment his eyes narrowed, "Grrr... Gara... you... I will... I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!!"

_Flash..._

He looked down at his adoptive daughter, who was on the destroyed ground in front of him. She was on her knees and had a defeated look on her face.

"Dashu..." said the half-elf woman, while tears were running out of her eyes

"Ashes, does it hurt much?" he said sorrowfully, "I will free you myself!!"

And as he was still looking into her beautiful eyes, he ripped his own heart out.

_Flash..._

He was standing in the ruins of a castle and only had one arm and leg, his wounds were bleeding profusely. A few meters in front of him stood a gigantic monster that had a normal human head and it was talking to him,

"You may have stood up again, but you are still finished!!" screamed the thing, "You may be a great sorcerer but you are far away from the evil power! I have the strength of the Anthrax... you can't win!! Goodness! Ha! Love binds you down! All of you are pathetic! Against me, a part of the Anthrax, the absolute evil, you have no chance! Ha, ha, ha!!! And now die!!"

"Nooo!! Dashu! Don't kill my Dashu!!" screamed the half-elf woman desperately, she was watching the fight together with a tall black-haired man and a red-haired girl, who were holding her back.

"Luzi!! You aren't alone, don't be afraid!!" shouted Yoko, "If you win, I will give you anything you want! Even me! So... so... don't give up!!"

To the surprise of all a surge of power was released from his body, destroying what remained of his clothes.

"What?!" screamed the monster, along with everyone else in shock

"Tss... what's this talk about good and evil?! That doesn't interest me!!" he exclaimed

The monster growled, "What? Bastard!"

"Abigail... the whole time you were second only to me!! In a fight between men there's no place for good and evil!!" said the man, "Anyway, you are going to die now!!"

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End dream...

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Ranma woke up surrounded by darkness, he had a splitting headache and his body felt like it has undergone the Bakusai Tenketsu training a few hundred times.

((Where... are the others...?)) thought Ranma weakly, (Argh... damn, I can't... move...))

"Huh? Akane...?" muttered Ranma, ((Am I going insane? Why the hell do I see Akane's face..?))

The cursed boy inched a little closer towards it until he recognized what he actually seeing, ((Oh! It's just that picture Ryoga bought from Nabiki... wait a minute... why can I see it if it's so dark in here?))

He then actually noticed that there was light coming out of a small gap next to the photo. Ranma took the snapshot and put it into his shirt, ((I bet Ryoga wants this back, he paid for it.))

After resting a little more to regain his strength, he started to dig through all the stone and earth. It did not take him long to reach the surface, having only been buried a little deeper than one meter.

Ranma's head popped out of the ground and he sweatdropped at what he saw, the source of light was nothing more than a flashlight that his father was holding. It seemed that they were in another cave now along with Plum and his two rivals.

The pigtailed boy pulled himself out of the ground, ignoring Genma and Plum and walked over to Mousse, who was working on a weird construct near the hole where Ryoga fell in previously. And now that he had time to actually check the fissure out, Ranma finally noticed what it really was.

"But that's..."

"...yeah, a dried out well." finished Mousse, "We can get out of here from up there."

Ryoga was also there, he standing on a bucket that was hanging on a rope in the middle of the well, "Hm... we have to thank Akane and Akari for this! They're leading us..."

"Hey Ryoga! Seems that you're okay."

"Yeah, no thanks to you... anyway, what happened to my photo of Akane? I'm fond of it, you know..."

"Here you have it." said Ranma and threw the picture to the bandanna-clad boy, he then jumped to the rope that led to the surface and used Ryoga's head as a stepping stone in the process, ((Hmm... if this well leads outside... that must mean the cursed spring of Mount Phoenix has dried up as well!))

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Some time later...

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After a long and tiring hike up the mountain, Ranma and his companions finally reached the palace on the summit. It was quite a large structure and it was guarded by about 40 soldiers, who were armed with swords and spears. The whole group decided to split up and so Genma and Plum went their own way. Ranma, Ryoga and Mousse continued as well and to their luck it seemed that all the guards were rather weak, making it easy for them to explore the palace.

They fought themselves all the way through the castle, until they reached the bridge that led to the royal chambers. Kima was there, waiting for the three teenagers and the cold look in her eyes told them what awaited them if they lost.

"You're still alive, I see..." muttered the woman

"Kima!! Release Shampoo and give us the map of Jusenkyo!" ordered Ranma fiercely

"Ku, ku, ku... young idiot!" exclaimed Kima and raised her wings for an attack, "You're saving us the time to the search for the Kinjakan! That's very kind of you! Anyway, are you ready to die?"

((Tss... it was clear that she would attack like this again... So...)) thought Ranma

She flapped with her wings and several dozen feathers were sent into the general direction of the three boys. To Kima's surprise though, Ranma used the Kinjakan to block all the feathers. Once he was finished, there was an arrogant smile on his lips.

"He... I knew it. This Kinjakan is a lot more powerful than your feathers, isn't it?" asked the martial artist triumphantly, "And since it can resist them..."

"You want to test it?"

"Hm, I was about to say that as well." replied Ranma and swung the staff, sending the ring at the top flying

Unfortunately, the loop suddenly changed directions and destroyed the part of the bridge where Ranma and the other two boys were standing on.

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End file.
